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So much of HSC focuses on that elusive final score - but there is a life beyond, writes Anneli Knight.

Getting into a tertiary course is just one step on the path to a career. With the HSC looming and the University Admission Index (UAI) scores rising every year, it can be easy to lose sight of what it's really all about.

Bernadette Bailey, a careers counsellor at Granville Boys High School, says students need to consider factors beyond UAI scores when choosing courses and careers. These may include job prospects and potential employment paths. And she advises students to always make a back-up plan.

Bailey helps students research industries and encourages them to look broadly in their areas of interest. Most of her students have chosen their courses based on what they plan to do afterwards.

Ahmed Amin is interested in studying construction engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney, or building construction management at the University of NSW. The UAIs for these courses are in the low 80s - "a realistic mark in my case", he says. Amin is interested in management and says that after studying building construction and working in the industry for a while he would like to do an MBA.

Mohammad Aouf shares a similar interest in engineering. He would like to do a combined degree of civil engineering and bachelor of business, which has an entry score in the high 70s. "I went down to Centrelink and researched engineering as a career as a whole," Aouf says. "It has a wide variety of jobs and there is a very high demand for civil engineers at the moment."

Kim Paino, the manager of publication and information services at the Universities Admission Centre, says there has been a rise in score requirements for university admission in the past few years, increasing pressure on students.

"This is based on supply and demand," she says. "There are more people applying for university courses and there are fewer places on offer."

Among the most dramatic increases in the past four years are the entry levels for the bachelor of arts degree at Macquarie University, which rose from 71 to 86, and the bachelor of information technology degree at the Australian National University in Canberra - up from 73 to 80. Entry to the bachelor of commerce and accounting degree at the University of Canberra rose from 70 to 77.

However, some of the degrees with the highest UAI entry scores - such as the combined law degrees at the University of Sydney - showed only a small increase, from 99.05 to 99.60. "There wasn't much room for that course to increase," Paino says.

Entry scores decrease occasionally - but it is not something students can rely on.

"You do get little fluctuations each year because it all depends on the [number of] individuals applying," Paino says.

For this reason, many students look into alternative career routes as a back-up. Ramsey Hawat, also from Granville High, is interested in studying a business management course at UWS.

He hopes to get a UAI score in the low to mid 80s

so he can get into this course, which had a cut-off of 81 last year. "If I don't end up getting that position I'll apply at TAFE to do a business management course," he says. After his studies, he hopes to get a traineeship at Coles Myer because the company offers leadership positions across a broad cross-section of the company.

Sultan Shafi says he initially wanted to work in the IT industry but was discouraged after finding that job prospects were diminishing. He is now aiming for a business management course and hopes to work for a large company such as BHP or the Commonwealth Bank. "Business is broad, with more choices and there is always a demand for jobs."